The mother of the girl who was lost in America's second-biggest airport for four hours has revealed that United Airlines had no idea where her daughter was and even told her the ten-year-old had reached her final destination.

Phoebe Klebahn was flying from San Francisco to Chicago where she was scheduled to make a connection and fly to Grand Rapids, Michigan, for summer camp. The person responsible allegedly forgot to pick her up at the gate and accompany her to the next flight.

Her mother Annie spoke to theTodayshow about the ordeal and revealed no one at United seemed to know where her daughter was.

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Panic: Annie Klebahn spoke to the Today show about the ordeal and revealed no one at United seemed to know where her daughter Phoebe was

Phoebe said: 'I asked to call my mom as I knew she would be worried about me. But every time I asked them they were like "hang on a minute, we are too busy"'

'All the worst possible things go through your mind when you have no idea where your child is and she's 2,000 miles away,' she said.

'They actually told me she had arrived in Michigan. So at that point I really knew that they had lost her at some level. They didn’t know where she was.'

Phoebe's parents only found out
their daughter had trouble with the airline once a camp counselor called
to say the girl never showed up.

She said she was put on hold for almost an hour and when the employee came back on the phone she was told they could not help her because her shift was ending.

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'My husband asked her if she was a mother and she said yes,' Mrs Klebahn said. 'And then he asked her, well how would you feel if your daughter was missing?'

Phoebe said when someone eventually came and took her to a waiting area, she asked several times if she could call her parents.

'I knew mom would be worried about me,' she said.' But every time I asked them they were like "hang on a minute, we are too busy".'

Familiar story: Like in Home Alone 2 where the main character is lost in Chicago's O'Hare airport, Phoebe Klebahn missed her flight to summer camp

Multiple mistakes: A friend of the girl's parents told how United did not contact the family until the case gained media attention

The incident became public after a friend of the couple wrote about their trouble with United on his blog, bringing the plight of Annie and Perry Klebahn who tried to understand how their daughter was left to fend for herself in the airport.

After an estimated 18 hours of phone calls with United Airlines as they searched for answers, the Klebahns found out that the escorts that the company uses to collect and drop off unaccompanied minors during solo flights are actually managed by a third-party service.

In their daughter's case, the representative didn't show up at the gate in Chicago because they forgot about her.

On top of that failure, the United attendants who were on the plane were 'busy and could not help' the confused girl as she waited for the escort.

'She asked three times to use a phone to call us and they told her to wait. When she missed the flight she asked if someone had called camp to make sure they knew and they told her "yes—we will take care of it". No one did,' the parents wrote in a letter of complaint to the airline that was reposted on their friend Bob Sutton's blog.

'She was sad and scared and no one helped.'

A United spokesperson told NBC News on Tuesday that they have reached out to the Klebahns to apologize, and the airline is redepositing the miles used to purchase the ticket into Perry Klebahn's frequent flier account. The airline is also refunding the $99 unaccompanied minor charge.

Concerned parent: Perry Klebahn, a professor at Stanford University, wrote a letter of complaint that went unanswered and estimates that he and his wife have spent 18 hours on the phone over the issue

Maze: Phoebe flew from San Francisco (left) to Chicago (right) where she was supposed to have an employee escort her to her connecting flight, but the person never showed up

The Huffington Post reported that eventually, Phoebe was put on a flight to Michigan four hours later, and because of the confusion her bags were lost and they took three more days to be reconnected with her at camp.

On his blog, Mr Sutton tells of how his friend and colleague Perry, who is a professor at Stanford University, has been continually frustrated by United's treatment and dismissal of the gravity of the situation.

When on the phone with one customer service representative while Phoebe was still wandering around the Chicago airport unaccompanied, the representative almost hung up saying that she could be of no more help because her shift was about to end.

A maternal plea from Mrs Khelban eventually prompted the worker to spend 15 minutes tracking the young girl down herself.

Mr Sutton says that United was 'completely unresponsive' until the couple told a local reporter about the incident and she started asking questions.

After that pressure, an airline representative contacted them directly and released a statement apologizing for their alleged actions.

'We reached out directly to the Klebahns to apologize and we are reviewing this matter,' United said in a statement to The Huffington Post.

'What the Klebahns describe is not the service we aim to deliver to our customers. We are redepositing the miles used to purchase the ticket back into Mr. Klebahn’s account in addition to refunding the unaccompanied minor charge.'